Family is not always about blood....

We are really going through quite a tough time as a family unit in the last few weeks with some really difficult decisions having to be made. With Grandma terminally ill and coming towards the end of her life and Joan recovering from her stroke, we have had to talk through some very emotional things recently. We have taken the decision to sell up and rent a larger house so that Joan can come and live with us and we can support her with all she needs. Everything has moved so quickly this week and to our shock and surprise we sold the house in one day, I repeat one day. Now the frantic search is on for the right property that solves all problems, meets everybody's needs and hopefully ensures the girls stay in the same school as well. Quite a tall order and proving to be an emotional and stressful rollercoaster ride. I am so very grateful to Amy and the girls for consenting to this, and will always be grateful to them, this is truly not easy for them. I am feeling extremely reflective at the moment and the sadness in my life feels heavy and two fold. I feel a bit overwhelmed and concerned my family is changing and whilst I know we are doing the right thing and I am comfortable with this; I can't help feeling real sadness in the pit of my stomach. When I define the term family it means something different in this case and is nothing to do with blood. Firstly, I feel a heavy burden and sadness in loosing Grandma soon and it feels like as it comes closer each day goes quicker; then soon I will not see her or be able to talk things through, not get to hear her wonderful stories or argue with her! She has been a constant in my life and the gap she will leave for me will never be filled. She may not have been my birth mother, but she has been so influential in my life  and the  impending loss I feel is hard to take at the moment. My second sadness comes from the loss of close contact in friendship and the best neighbours I will ever have the privilege to share my days with in Libby, Ben and Big Lucy. To me they also feel like family. I don't know where we are going and it may still be quite close by, but I know I will miss the cups of tea, barbecues, delicious roast dinners and the ever extended hand of friendship from next door. I have struggled to call houses home since living in Berry Hall as a child, but 49 Queens Road has been full of some amazing times and difficult ones too, but made all the better by wonderful neighbours who have, I hope become life long friends and extended family. I am looking forward to a new chapter in family life, excited and fearful at the same time and as Amy says with Joan moving in soon with us, our family is getting bigger. This can only be a good thing. Watch this space world, the Hammonds are coming, all though it could pan out to only be a few miles down the road!!!!!

An interesting tale of inflatables and fry ups....

Mrs Hammond and the girls certainly engaged with the holiday spirit and this is demonstrated by eating habits and a large collection of inflatable animals for use in the pool! Amy completed a recording breaking daily consumption of a morning fry up for breakfast, claiming tenuously that it was due to the fact it was such good value at 3.50 euros! It was good value and it was delicious. On only one day was she not able to have the works, when a power cut meant that only a small emergency cooked breakfast was delivered. Never mind the fact that we had not water or power and couldn't use the shower or toilet. The English abroad have strange priorities. As for the girls this holiday they have spent time with a crocodile, a unicorn, a flamingo and a pineapple! A rather eclectic mixture of pool friends, some purchased and some accidentally acquired. I am afraid with much sadness the unicorn did not make it back to blighty, suffering a fatal and deflating injury. RIP and your memory will live long in the Hammond family culture....

Already whizzed by...

The internet and computing does frustrate the hell out of me at times, whilst away I was unable to get access, so hence no blogs. I have to say I am so chilled I am horizontal and it was a fabulous family holiday in Corfu. We all have sunbathed, eaten, chilled, read books, shopped for tat and generally lazed around for two weeks. Just what was needed! The two weeks was not without comedy or a little drama, with Lucy falling down a hole in the side of the road on day one and hurting herself and Anna having a twelve stone lump of a child land on her head and neck in the pool on the last day, resulting in x-rays and being checked over!! Both are fine and with pride being the most grievous injury. The people of Corfu were lovely and we had a great hotel. The town we stayed in made Great Yarmouth look like the 'riviera' with no rubbish collections having happened for months due to a strike and enough tat shops all selling the same thing to test ones patience. Needless to say, the girls loved the shops and spent shed loads on rubbish.  For me it gave me the opportunity for peace and quiet and time with my family and it did not disappoint in any way. I even read four books! Favourite memories would have to be the size of the ice creams (never seen the like and probably never will again), Lucy and I getting told off by a very angry Greek man for climbing a church bell tower, having a coffee next to an inflatable flamingo, the lovely hotel staff, getting a lie in and being with my three girls. We are home now and reality has most definitely kicked in as I am back to work tomorrow. I am skint, grateful for this time together and already being pressured to book next years holiday. I would not want it any other way! Some worries to come back to with Grandma quite poorly now and Joan unwell after an untimely stroke the day before we left to go away. If I am honest, I have carried these worries with me to Corfu, but having skirted closely to cancelling the holiday, am so glad we went, as they were still there when I got back..

Eyes on the prize and keep going....

Yesterday was a grind if I am honest. I celebrated, if you can call it that, my forty fourth birthday working and on my tod in a hotel room. I really did miss Amy and the girls, and felt a bit deflated and glum. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Finish my days work today and the most exciting reward awaits me. EIGHTEEN straight days off with my girls and two weeks in Corfu. A couple more hours to go, survive the drive home in this heat from the midlands, knock off all the last phone calls in the car and let the holidays begin in earnest. Work life balance has changed so much in the last few years, I am envisioning a relatively disrupted time off without many work commitments and time with my family to be cherished. Looking forward to creating memories with team Hammond again in the coming weeks. The smile on Mrs Hammond's face almost indicates that she knows something I don't and by the looks of it, it could be fun! Getting very excited now! Just need to drug Amy up with enough diazepam to sink a Rhino, get her through the flight and then good times to be had by all.....

Abandon ship, where have all the cookies gone?

A yearly tradition where Anna and Amy pitch up a small tent in the garden and have a sleep over because they feel like it, did not go as well as planned this year. The build up in the day was quite spectacular, with Anna transferring all her worldly possessions from her room into the tent, was really quite amusing for Lucy and I to watch. We neither of us, care that much for camping, so were quite content to let them get on with it and enjoy. Our only grudge is that the chocolate chip cookie tin mysteriously disappeared - not sure where they went, although polished off evidence of an empty tin was found in the garden the next day. Just as I was about to go to bed, the back door opened (glad I remembered not to lock it) and in trudged a disgruntled pair stating that it was way too hot and not enough space! I think they miscalculated the space they would need and that Anna has actually grown quite a bit in the last year. Lovely to see my wife and girls enjoying quality time together, might need to use the big tent next year though ladies to ensure you have space for all Anna's crap and the extra foot she might grow in this next year! xx